Oh, the New York Times!
From an article on upcoming Jane Austen films:
And however much society has changed, Austen’s heroines — unlike the Brontës’ — deal with the believable, timeless obstacles of class, money and misunderstanding, which make her works adaptable to any era. As Ms. Huff said: “Everyone thinks she’s Elizabeth Bennet; not everyone thinks she’s Jane Eyre. Everyone knows a young woman trying to decide if the guy she’s attracted to is Mr. Right. Not everyone meets a Mr. Right who has a mad wife in the attic.”
This amused me greatly, dear readers. It amused me even further that the films in question adapt Austen for our age by trying to sex them up. And, flirtatous glances aside, the picture used to illustrate the article bears a striking resemblance to scenes from several Jane Eyre adaptations I could mention.
Poor Jane and Lizzy! Their entire lives, personalities reduced to how they sorted out with the menfolk!
7 comments:
I sure have missed you! Hope there will be more posts now that you're home! Take good care,
law
Hullo you! Hope all is well.
Huh. I wanted to be both Jane and Lizzy when I was little. Jane because then Mr R would fall in love with me; Lizzy because she is sparkly and clever and everyone likes her. Jane seemed a more likely proposition – all I would have to do is be in the novel and go to Thornfield Hall. Lizzy is a very healthy aspirational character but I think it would be hard work to be her all the time. Even Lizzy, who is best at it, has to slink off to her room for reflection sometimes.
As for the rest of it, I think *most* men have a madwoman in the attic in some symbolic form or other! That’s why JE still works so well these days.
Hey nice blog you've got here.
That's complete tosh about Jane Eyre not being timeless.
And it's not just because I've got a mad women in the attic!
That was a bit on the one-dimensional side, reducing both characters to so little. And so the following statement about modern female viewers was not very complimentary either. Many of us (including Lizzy) are not Bridget Jones.
Have you not ever read the book. Yes they were in love and they were glancing at each other like everybody in love. People fall in love and did and will doesn't matter in what time of the history. And yes Bronte and Austen were writing above love. They had mistresses, were cheating. Mr Rochester was caring Jane downstairs. Trying to kiss her, etc. Jane sitting on his laps. Movie is nothing in comparison how actually sexy book is. Stop being hipocrit.
I personally could relate to Jane Eyre more than I could to Elizabeth Bennett... Maybe I'm the only one though.
And a few years after this post I find your blog... haha
Though it did sound funny, the person that wrote that about Jane Eyre couldn't be further from the truth in my opinion. If JE wasn't relatable somehow for females, then why would there be so many adaptations of the book? Besides, having a wife in the attic isn't what girls can relate to, it's the complication. Somehow some guy lied to you about something, and it could have terrible repercussions, question is how do you handle it? Jane could have stayed as Mr. Rochester's mistress, but she didn't, because she had more pride and self respect than that and cared more about their love to just be a mistress. So this just really proves how feeble-minded and predictable the people of Hollywood are.
Congratulations on a beautiful blog. Even though it hasn't been updated in a while^^
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